Early season NBA Most Improved Player power rankings
By Ian Levy
4. Bennedict Mathurin, Indiana Pacers
Mathurin still has some clear holes in his game — defense, creating for others — but he put up big numbers as a rookie and could take things to another level this season. He's moved into the starting lineup in place of Buddy Hield and could find himself with even more minutes when Hield is presumably traded closer to the deadline.
The Pacers offense ran roughshod on the Wizards in their season opener, scoring 143 points. Mathurin chipped in 18 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, attacking relentlessly in transition and off curls and dribble hand-offs in the halfcourt. He averaged 7.4 free-throw attempts per 36 minutes last season and seems intent on topping that number this year. He believes he's a star and he's just going to keep trying to score on you until you believe it too.
Indiana's offense is going to be explosive this season and Mathurin is going to end up with plenty of opportunities to put up shots and big scoring totals. He's clearly working on rounding out his game but, for at least this award, being a second-year guard putting up 20 points per game on an Eastern Conference playoff team probably makes his MIP case for him.